Car makers are defying the odds and buying market share with discounts and sales incentives, it was claimed this week.

Sales are defying gravity and cannot continue as they have been, according to experts at Parker's Car Price Guide.

The 03-plate in March saw 438,075 cars taking to the road for the first time.

Although overall registrations in the first three months of this year still trail behind the first quarter of last year by a very narrow margin, about 8000 cars, or 1.4 per cent down, another record was set in March with more than 14,000 extra registrations than in March last year.

Total sales this year should be about 2.4 million cars so the March figure means about 18 per cent of all new cars sold this year will have passed through the showrooms in a single month.

The appeal of the 03 registration plate is very strong, pulling in private buyers in particular.

In March, private motorists accounted for over 53 per cent of new car sales.

Editor of Parker's Car Price Guide Nic Barfield said, "These astonishing figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show the new car business defying gravity.

"Despite the war in Iraq, the hikes in National Insurance contributions and council tax from April, and a cloudy economic outlook, car buyers are still heading for the showrooms in record numbers.

"In the longer term, new car sales must fall.

Today's demand levels are sustained by cheap credit, cut-throat discounts and incentives from the major car manufacturers. Many car makers are buying business.

"The latest campaign from MG Rover shows just how far they will go to shift cars.

The hook is simple: the company pledges to beat any genuine offer from any manufacturer."